Sharjah: Thanks to a comprehensive traffic management plan, the emirate of Sharjah did not record a single death on its roads during the recent New Year holiday, police said.
The call centre at Sharjah Police Central Operations Room received 17,734 emergency and non-emergency phone calls during the holiday period, Colonel Jassim Bin Hada, Director of Operations Department at Sharjah Police, said.
Col Bin Hada confirmed that the calls received by the call centre during this period was in view of criminal, traffic, emergency and non-emergency reasons. All the reports were dealt with and transferred immediately to the competent authorities according to the type and nature of each report.
Round-the-clock vigil
A total 15,854 phone calls were received on 999, the number allocated for emergency cases, while 1,880 non-emergency calls were received on the 901 number.
Colonel Bin Hada stated that the Operations Department received calls round the clock. The response speed in urgent cases was five minutes from the time of receiving the communication until the arrival of the police team to the site of the incident. He said that this response rate was one of the best indicators at the national level, despite all the demographic, cultural and linguistic diversities within the emirate.
He also reminded the public to call 999 only in cases of genuine emergencies and to call the 901 number for all other non-emergency purposes.
On the traffic front, Sharjah Police intensified their patrolling in various regions, squares and internal roads as well as highways in the emirate. Such intensive patrolling resulted in the emirate achieving zero deaths on its roads during the New Year holiday weekend.
